"I can take an empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged," Peter Brook wrote in his seminal text, The Empty Space. But for decades after the book was first published, in 1968, theatre was often holed up in theatre, walled in by static audiences and protected by the fourth wall.

This summer, though, theatre is breaking out of its box and Brook’s words will be realised in spectacular fashion as the empty spaces of London fill up with actors.

The LIFT slogan is “where the city meets the stage”. It’s mission: to bring performers from around the world to tell stories of global importance to London for five weeks (June 2-29). Previous years have seen performances in all sorts of unexpected places, from a car park in Croydon to the spokes of the London Eye.

Greenwich and Docklands International Festival (June 20-28) pretty much does what it says on the tin. It’s now in its 18th year of bringing dance, music and theatre to the spaces of south-east London.